In the independent Czechoslovak Republic, President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk played a profound role in influencing Musil´s important decisions and subsequent actions, even though their political and social opinions differed. Musil, at that time a student of theology, met Masaryk in 1889 in Turčiansky Sväty Martin in Slovakia. He recalled Masaryk´s emphasis on the necessity of having strong personal convictions when studying. Musil gave an inaugural lecture, How did I get to know the Orient, on 11th February 1920.In the auditorium, journalists and politicians were present, headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edvard Beneš. Musil´s plans for Czech Oriental studies were not only scientific and cultural, but also political and economic. Musil believed that for the newborn Czechoslovakian state the Orient could act as a substitues for colonies, since it could supply the country with raw materials in exchange for various products, and it could also offer its countrymen profitable employment opportunities. According to him, the government needed to systematically arouse interest in the Orient in Czechoslovakia and vice-versa, and also to use cultural links as the starting point for the establishment of active economic relations. Therefore, he believed it should be a national aim to establish an Oriental library, a school of living languages and a large Oriental institute. In 1920, based on Masaryk´s wishes, Musil began preparations for a great journey leading from Northern Africa to Southwest Asia, where he hoped to promote the political and economic interests of Czechoslovakia. The journey was postponed on several occasions and, in the end, never took place., Pavel Žďárský., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Postava baronky Sidonie Nádherné (1885–1950), mecenášky umění a přítelkyně literátů Karla Krause a Rainera Marii Rilka, jež byla spjata se zámkem ve Vrchotových Janovicích, vzbuzovala sice zájem literárních badatelů a historiků, donedávna však zůstávala ve stínu zejména obou slavných mužů. Spisovatelka a publicistka Alena Wagnerová podle recenzentky přináší nový pohled v tom, že žánr kulturněhistorické biografie propojuje s přístupem umírněného feminismu a svou hrdinku činí vskutku hlavním objektem zájmu. Její kniha, původně vydaná německy pod titulem Das Leben der Sidonie Nádherný: Eine Biographie (Hamburg 2003), je zároveň sondou do života společnosti, když prostřednictvím životního příběhu Sidonie Nádherné zachycuje dobové tendence, tužby a souvislosti., Sidonie Nádherná (1885–1950), a baroness and patroness of the arts and a love interest of the great writers Karl Kraus and Rainer Maria Rilke, has been closely linked to the manor house in Vrchotovy Janovice (Janowitz), central Bohemia. Though she has attracted the interest of scholars of literature and historians, she has until recently remained in the shadow of her two famous admirers. In the work under review (the Czech translation of Das Leben der Sidonie Nádherný. Eine Biographie, Hamburg, 2003), the writer Alena Wagnerová provides, according to the reviewer, a new view, combining the genre of cultural-historical biography with moderate feminism, truly making her protagonist the centre of interest. Her book is also a probe into a society, and by means of the life story of Sidonie Nádherná she depicts the trends, hopes, and context of the period., and [autor recenze] Milena Lenderová.